Welcome to the St. Paul's Biology Web Site.

Welcome to Biology! I have planned a journey of discovery that will wow and amaze you! Genetic engineering... Endangered ecosystems...Technology and the power of knowledge. The list of biology-related issues facing society and mankind grows longer each day. A basic understanding of the methods, possibilities, and limitations of science is essential for everyone.

Scientific skills such as observation, inquiry, laboratory techniques, applied mathematics and graphing, and writing will be used throughout the course in order to teach you about the biological sciences. This course may have some topics that you have learned about in the past, however in this class we will delve into greater depth and detail for each topic. During this course, you will be challenged and your mind stretched while using your scientific skills. You are a scientist in this class, so it is imperative that you keep all your data organized and neat. Take pride in your work, as it is a reflection of you!

The Next Generation Science Standards aim to eliminate the practice of "teaching to the test." Instead, they shift the focus from merely memorizing scientific facts to actually doing science—so students spend more time posing questions and discovering the answers for themselves.

The Urgency for Next Generation Science Standards:

In 2007, a Carnegie Corporation of New York/Institute for Advanced Study commission of researchers and public and private leaders concluded that "the nation’s capacity to innovate for economic growth and the ability of American workers to thrive in the modern workforce depend on a broad foundation of math and science learning, as do our hopes for preserving a vibrant democracy and the promise of social mobility that lie at the heart of the American dream."

Unfortunately, science and mathematics achievement continues to lag compared to our international competitors, and this lag has already begun to impact the competitiveness of young Americans as well as the competitiveness of the U.S. in the global economy.

For example:

♦ The U.S. ranked 17th in science and 25th in mathematics on the 2009 PISA assessment. Less than 10 percent of U.S. students scored at one of the top two of six performance levels.

♦ More than a third of eighth-graders scored below basic on the 2009 NAEP Science assessment.

♦ U.S. high-tech manufacturing industries continue to have a larger share of global output than any other economy, but the U.S. global share fell from 34% in 1998 to 28% in 2010.

♦ The U.S. share of global high tech exports dropped from 19% to 15% in 2010; at the same time China's share of global high tech goods exports more than tripled, from 6% in 1995 to 22% in 2010, making it the single largest exporting country for high tech products. (http://ngss.nsta.org/why-standards-matter.aspx)

Outline of scope and sequence of topics for Biology this year

Science and Engineering Practices describe what scientists do to investigate the natural world and what engineers do to design and build systems. The practices better explain and extend what is meant by "inquiry" in science and the range of cognitive, social, and physical practices that it requires. Students engage in practices to build, deepen, and apply their knowledge of core ideas and crosscutting concepts.

Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) are the key ideas in science that have broad importance within or across multiple science or engineering disciplines. These core ideas build on each other from grade-level to grade-level. In Biology Life Sciences they are: LS1 - From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
LS2 - Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
LS3 - Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
LS4 - Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Crosscutting Concepts help students explore connections across the four domains of science, including Physical Science, Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Engineering Design.These are intersperced throughout the lessons. When these concepts, such as "cause and effect", are made explicit for students, they can help students develop a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world around them. For more on Crosscutting concepts, see the Bozeman videos listed to the right under resources.